It's already a shoe-in. Federer can play the finals blind folded. He won't lose a set this entire tournament. He is the best player to ever step on a court.

very remote chance. I think Fed is out of goals. Now his goal is to win his matches as quickly as possible! It must be pretty boring and lonely up there!

I expected a better result from Roddick, especially after Shanghai and Kooyong, but I think Fed steps up his level accordingly and does not stop learning. Neither Haas nor Gonzo can trouble him right now. Nadal (if he could reach there, maybe).

Certainly the greatest upset since Sampras - Safin, US Open 2000. You could go back further to Connors - Ashe, Wimbledon 1975.

I have said this before and I will say it again. When Fed is "on" he can put a bagle or two on anyone else in the world. Have we ever had a number one who could do that consistently to the other top five players in the world? I think not!

Last year at the Australian Open, I remember that Haas lost to Federer in five sets (If I remember correctly) but it was in the 1/4 I think and Federer is always better as he moves on so the best chance to beat Federer would be at the beginning of the tournament in the Finale he will be unstoppable!

But I'm kind of happy that it will be a new guy in the finale just like last year when Bagdhatis made it through!! I think Gonzalez will be the one!

TommyJo - Safin '02 AO?

I like Gonzalez's chances as much as anyone's against Federer. Gonzo will ned to serve bigger than he has ben, with even more variety, and go for the wide one in the deuce court to open up the T. And he'll have to make huge forehands from all over the court, that much is obvious. But I think his all-court arsenal, newfound slice backhand and better movement will help him greatly to at least stay in the match. Of course, he needs to get by Haas first... one point, one game, one set, one match at a time.

...since David beat Goliath

I'd have to agree with the Safin-Sampras 2000 US Open final, which was a shocker and a complete drubbing. Safin literally outplayed the great Sampras in nearly every category that day. He hasn't played that well for that many matches since, though his semifinal win over Federer at the AO in 2005(?) was a beaut.

As good as Federer is, there can be no denying that the highly predictable and tactically inept Roddick made him look like Superman. His easy win over Fish sent Roddick the wrong message going in to the semi (he seemed to think he could hit Federer off the court too). Roddick's shots were so telegraphed and had so little variation that Federer knew exactly where he was going to hit most of the time. Never seen any player gift Federer so many forehands (a sign of Andy believing too much of the pre-match media hype).I lost count of how many times Roddick responded with the same forehand (direction & angle, depth and spin wise) to a Federer midcourt, crosscourt forehand. And why Roddick chose not to use a sliced backhand to the usual Federer tactic of a short, crosscourt backhand slice only he would know. Instead he delivered great pass fodder with a topspin forehand that fell short most of the time and stood up, saying "murder me" (down the line or crosscourt). Poor Connors, where were all those new tactics they had worked on - hardly a sliced backhand in sight; trying to murder every first serve, instead of using a variety of speed, spin and directional change to keep Federer guessing, and pressurising him by coming to the net. Federer was kind too Roddick in his post-match comments - what was "unreal" about the match was A-Rod's tactics. Jimmy did the right thing by handing him a beer - would more likely have been a six-pack. Federer is fortunate that there are so many "hitters" with little variety in their game at the moment. And if you haven't got a backhand (a la Gasquet) you can use as a weapon to attack the Fed's weaker side, beating him is more difficult. Roddick has made great strides since teaming up with Connors and can beat Federer, but only with his head screwed on tight.

Turbern,
right on! fed. said in his postmatch interview that he could "read" Roccick's serve ( and perhaps his game) perfectly. Good lesson for Andy and Jim. But Roddick should not be discourgaged. He should just learn from this and move on and be "not predictable" anymore.

We need not worry about it since he has no intention of losing.

and another thing....who actually thought Roddick had a chance?

Torben,
Sorry for all the typos.

At the Aussie Open, since Thomas Johannson beat Marat Safin in the 2002 final.

Probably the biggest Grand Slam final upset since Iva Majoli defeated Martina Hingis in the 1997 French Open, preventing Hingis from winning a Grand Slam that year. Majoli never got past the QFs of slam after that, and Hingis never won the French Open, although she lost the final in 3 sets to the great Steffi Graf in 1999.

Even then, for Federer to lose to any GS other than the French is an upset of titanic proportions since Pete Sampras lost to Richard Krajicek in the 1996 Wimbledon QF, denying Sampras the only Wimbledon title he missed from 1993-2000.

Federer is equal or better in every area compared to both Haas and Gonzalez. The only areas that are close are maybe their serves and Gonzalez's forehand but Federer still has the edge in those areas. It's all up to Federer. Only if Federer plays mediocre tennis (by his standards) and they play well will they have any serious chance.

Haas expressed after last year's loss to Fed at the Aussie Open that he didn't believe Rog deserved the "greatest player of all time tag" - yet. So it would be an interesting match-up. He has beaten Fed at the Aussie Open before and has the strong backhand needed to dismantle the world No 1. The pigeons buzzing in his head - and stadium - would probably be the Haasmeister's downfall. Nor is he likely to make the final - Gonzo will be too much to handle. Unfortunately Fed is able to "read" Gonzo's game quite fell - like Roddick, the big, circular forehand preparation makes for little disguise. But if Gonzo can rifle his FHs as well as he did against Rafa, who knows? But the two easy wins for Fed over Gonzo late last year could be too fresh in the memory ... Nevertheless, Gonzo will put up a better fight than Roddick, who should introduce his varied sense of humour to his game.

TMF plays mediocre tennis? Maybe. But he can still outplay and win the match.

It's hard to imagine Fed losing to anyone after last night. I loved Enberg's and Carillo's speechlessness and Enberg's benediction that "he's seen a lot of athletes in every sport over the past 50 years but never seen anyone dominate like Federer".

I love watching Federer. But, when you always know the outcome, it takes all the excitement out of watching what is supposed to be a competitive sport. Honestly, when I watch his matches, I spend most of my time watching how the other guy is responding and scrambling under the pressure.

Frankly, one of the most interesting matches I've watched with Federer in it was when he lost to Nadal in the French Open final. To see him playing from behind and facing match points was something you almost never see.

Federer can only loose this game if he gets hurt. Federer is just the most complete Player to ever step on a Court. He can beat his opponents in so many ways.

The concensus seems to be Johansson over Safin at the AO, which is a good possibility. Also in the discussion could be Albert Costa over J.C. Ferrero that same year. JCF wasn't a really high seed in that tournament (the two were only separated by 9 seeds) but looking back, that was a crazy time in the sports' landscape.

I think maybe an even better offering is an unseeded Gaston Gaudio over No. 3 Guillermo Coria in the '04 French. They went to 8-6 in the fifth with the relative unknown prevailing. That seems to be the best.

Since then it's been all Roger all the time - with a slight dose of Rafa. No opportunity for any surprises when two guys can't be beaten.

Can't see this happening...the last time I've seen Fed choke away a GS final, it was FO 2006. Now THAT

Can't see this happening...the last time I've seen Fed choke away a GS final, it was FO 2006. Now THAT was a choke. I'm a Fed KAD and every time I see that match, that's the only conclusion I can come to on that one.

But once you get the Fed in the finals of a GS??? Forget it. You have to get Fed before the final if you don't want him to collect another trophy.

Prediction: Fed, 10 GS after Sunday. 1 GS down, 3 to go in 2007

I can feel it coming....